The twin parks will include a pedestrian bridge leading to an observation area on Yerba Buena Island, and a 600-foot walkway that juts off of Oakland's shoreline. Both parks would offer views of the water and the eastern span of the Bay Bridge.

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Those newly presented plans Monday have been scaled back somewhat from the original, as teams worked to meet the stated budget. The team moved from grander plans that would cost a total of $60 million to a harder budget of $52 million. Items such as a parking lot and paved walkway at the Yerba Buena Island park, for instance, were chucked, and instead a "simple crushed-gravel walkway" was agreed upon.

"We identified items that if taken out, somebody in the future could put back in if they wanted," said Caltrans' chief bridge engineer Brian Maroney to the committee.

In that vein, another item that was lifted off the project books was lighting, which will not be installed at either parks (despite electrical connections that will be available). This is also due to the fact that the managing park agencies plan to keep the parks closed at night, KQED noted.

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Over the course of six weeks, Caltrans will be imploded 13 little concrete islands that once helped hold up the old Bay Bridge east span in 2017.

Media: San Francisco Chronicle

The entire project was noted to cost just "slightly more" than what the transportation agency would have spent to dismantle those piers, according to the San Jose Mercury in January.

Caltrans noted that despite the added expense, residents would get "a pretty significant amenity out of it," said Steve Heminger, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Bay Bridge officials were eyeing the area as a park in 2014, even before the former Bay Bridge was deconstructed.

To get the project going on its projected time, the committee approved Caltrans to sign off on permits for the parks going forward, including those from the Bay Conservation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The aim is to complete construction by April 2019, according to the proposal.